As you may know, I’m no fan of Pitchfork, but when I found out that Animal Collective would be playing this years Pitchfork Music Festival, I made the decision to put aside my old grudges and haul my ass out to Chicago to “visit my parents.” Two hot, rainy, sweaty, sunny, crowded, noisy days later, and this is the conclusion I’ve come to: I will never ever go to Pitchfork again unless I have a press pass. Despite this, however, the festival wasn’t ALL soul-sucking and horrible. Here’s the rundown:

(I should stipulate that I didn’t go to day one because it sounded totally lame)

(Also, please excuse the quality of the pictures. I am not nearly enough of a hipster to have been able to score a press pass. Grumble grumble grumble….)

MOST EXCITING PERFORMANCE: Les Savy Fav

There’s been a lot of buzz about Les Savy Fav over the past few months, but until yesterday I didn’t really understand why. It’s clear to me now, however, that it has something to do with Tim Harrington and the fact that he’s completely insane. I could try to describe the outfits this man wore during the set, but it wouldn’t do them justice. Instead, I suggest watching the internet for pictures/videos over the next couple of days, because he even put Kevin Barnes to shame. Srsly.

More importantly, however, Harrington knows how to work a crowd. Les Savy Fav’s kickass performance had the most excited audience I’d seen all weekend. And really, to get a bunch of stoned, cynical hipsters to freak out is kind of an amazing feat. At one point, Harrington climbed off stage and disappeared into the audience, only to reappear crowd-surfing in one of the many “Chicago Park District” garbage cans littering the festival. His explanation? “I’m a grouch. My name is Oscar.” 

I highly suggest that if Les Savy Fav is ever in your neck of the woods, you make a point of seeing them. Even if you don’t like their music. Even if you can’t afford it. It’ll be worth it. Trust me.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A BAND I HADN’T HEARD BEFORE: High Places

I took a lot of shit for skipping most of Boris’ set to see High Places, but I was curious about this weird little band, mostly because one half of their members (Mary Pearson) are from Kalamazoo, Michigan. For those of you who don’t know, Kalamazoo is a place where there is no good and the sun never shines. Mary, however, is a one-woman ray of sunshine. And Rob Barber, her partner in crime, is a one man drum machine. Only cooler. They delivered a nearly flawless set, and I’m seriously looking forward to their new album (out on September 23rd).

MOST BADASS PERFORMANCE: Jay Reatard

One time Jay Reatard punched me in the face. It was awesome.

BEST PERFORMANCE EVER: Fuck Buttons

Oh, Fuck Buttons, you give me an excuse to say “Fuck” on my blog without pissing off my mum. “It’s okay, Mum, it’s part of their name. I’m just saying their name.” 

Fuck Buttons’ performance, however, was awesome for other reasons. I recently became addicted to their album Street Horrrsing, and was convinced that the only thing better than listening to Fuck Buttons, would be to see them live. I was totally right. Surprisingly, considering the abstract nature of the music they make, their performance was incredibly accurate to their records. They delivered their set with great intensity, and it was nothing short of totally rad to see how they make those fucked-up noises. It’s ok, Mum, “fuck” is part of their name. Fuck fuck fuck fuck… More importantly, they were the only band that managed to take me out of myself during these two days of hell. Fuck.

MOST DISAPPOINTING PERFORMANCE: Animal Collective

I skipped out on Atlas Sound to make sure I was at the front for Animal Collective’s set, which was kind of pointless since I spent most of it ALMOST at the front but behind two 6′ 5″ douchebags who had probably only heard Strawberry Jam like twice and nothing else. Probably. I didn’t recognize the tragedy of this until the next day, when it hit me that I really really would have liked to have seen Atlas Sound, and will probably not get another opportunity for a long while.

Anyway, Animal Collective’s set wasn’t bad, exactly, although it was hard to tell while literally being crushed by the entire population of the Pitchfork Music festival. Having 20,000 scenesters on top of you is not a good feeling, and the atmosphere in the crowd was really strange, and more inebriated than the last Animal Collective show I saw. 

They opened their performance with “Chocolate Girl,” which was great, and went on to perform most of Strawberry Jam (catering to the crowd, I suppose), as well as “Comfy in Nautica” which, of course, everyone recognized. Someone near me called it a cover, so I kicked her in the teeth (an amazing feat, considering we were packed in so tightly, I couldn’t move my arms). What was really disappointing, however, was the way they ended their set. And by ended, I mean stopped in the middle, informed us there was a curfew, and pretty much ran off stage while the security guys proceeded to shoe us away.

It was just overwhelmingly unfriendly, the audience seemed close to riot for most of the performance, and not even the guys themselves seemed to want to be there. At this point, I think Animal Collective just doesn’t work in a festival setting. And honestly, neither do I.

Posted by Jocelyn

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